Remember those milk commercials from the 80s where the awkward kid looks into a tall mirror and then their reflection turns into their future cooler selves, and the cool future-self tells the awkward younger-self that there’s a lot to look forward to if you drink your milk? Then the kid starts guzzling the milk. That was also around the time of the drug commercial where the dad finds his son’s drugs, and he says, “Who taught you to do this stuff?” And the son says, “You, alright? I learned it by watching you!” Then the grim-voiced narrator comes on and says, “Parents who use drugs have children who use drugs.” I wonder, if…
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If you don’t believe, no one else will. Telling a good story is a lot like telling a “good” lie. George Costanza once told Jerry, “It’s not a lie if you believe it.” (Jerry needed to pass a lie detector test regarding Melrose Place.) Writing a good story is very similar. You should appreciate the story (even if you don’t necessarily like what’s happening) and believe that it is happening – that you are merely writing what you see. If you believe it, the reader will believe it too. Nothing is interesting. Seinfeld episodes weren’t about something. There was no moral truth to be learned by watching the show. At the end of the 30…
